Written Answers Friday 16 February 2007

Scottish Executive

Careers Service

Ms Maureen Watt (North East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many careers advisers have been employed in secondary schools in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority area and shown also per head of pupil population.

Nicol Stephen: Careers advisers are not employed by secondary schools, but are deployed there on an equitable basis dependent on school population size. Each school is allocated 58 days per annum careers adviser time per 1,000 pupils and this is negotiated and agreed with each school through a Partnership Agreement. In addition, each local authority can identify up to 30% of schools in their area whose pupils need most help in making an effective transition on leaving school. These schools receive an additional time allocation from Careers Scotland.

  The following table provides details of the numbers of careers advisers, in recent years, operating within each Careers Scotland Local Advisory Board area, and how they reflect local authority areas. However, these careers advisers also provide services to unemployed young people, college students and adults as well as to the school pupils.

  The table also provides details of the total number of secondary school pupils (S1-S6) in each Careers Scotland Local Advisory Board area, based on the September 2005 School Census. The number of pupils per careers adviser has then been calculated using the comparable (January 2006) data. However the recent increase in number of careers advisers in 2007 will have decreased the number of pupils per adviser in most areas, since the data shown for the School year 2005-06.

  

 
No. of Careers Advisers(Full-Time Equivalent)
Secondary School Population September 2005*
Average No. of Pupils Per Careers Adviser - School Year 2005-06


January2005
January2006
January2007


Fife
26.5
29.5
31.5
22,213
753


Grampian
22
30.5
30
26,211
859


Tayside
30
32
35
23,332
729


Borders
7.5
10.5
10.5
6,971
664


Edinburgh and Lothians
48.5
61.5
61
42,250
687


Forth Valley
15.5
22
24.5
18,183
827


Ayrshire
29
30
34
24,692
823


Dumfries and Galloway
10
10
11
9,581
958


Lanarkshire
51.5
59
61.5
42,293
717


Dunbartonshire
12.5
15
19
14,603
974


Glasgow area
39
47
70.5
28,499
606


Renfrewshire
35
37
40.5
24,656
666


Totals
327
384
429
283,484
 



  Note: *Secondary School Rolls by Stage – September 2005 School Census (S1-S6).Careers advisers operate within multidisciplinary teams. Schools additionally get support from other Careers Scotland staff including specialist programmes to help prevent pupils becoming NEET (not in education, employment or training) and a range of World of Work experiences and enterprise activities within the delivery of a consistent, coherent and progressive career education programme.

Careers Service

Ms Maureen Watt (North East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many careers advisors have undertaken disability awareness training in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority area.

Nicol Stephen: Since 2005 all Careers Scotland staff, including careers advisers, have received mandatory training in both Good Practice in Equal Opportunities and Child Protection. In addition, all new careers advisers receive three-day mandatory training on Additional Support Needs Basic Awareness.

  Also since 2005 the following specific training has been taken up by Careers Scotland staff:Mental Health AwarenessHidden DisabilityAutism AwarenessDrug and Alcohol AwarenessWorking with OffendersWork with the Blind and Partially SightedManaging Challenging Behaviour.There are no records available on training prior to the creation of Careers Scotland in 2002. Recording of training was kept manually between 2002 and 2005 and we are therefore unable to provide the information requested. However, since 2005 electronic records have been kept which show training delivered to staff.Individual staff members have additionally requested and received training in the following:British sign language trainingAnger management.Staff also have access to the Disability Confident e-learning modules and all Careers Scotland staff have had awareness raised through Careers Scotland’s Additional Support Needs Handbook.

Central Heating Programme

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many installations under the central heating programme and Warm Deal have been completed in each year since inception of the central heating programme, broken down by local authority area.

Des McNulty: I have asked Angiolina Foster, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. Her response is as follows:

  Information is not held by local authority area. Information showing the total number of central heating and Warm Deal installations is shown in the following tables:

  Central Heating Installations Across All Sectors: 2001-02 to 2006-07

  

Year
Totals


2001-02
8,508


2002-03
11,220


2003-04
16,788


2004-05
15,207


2005-06
16,002


2006-07
9,769


 
77,494



  Warm Deal Installations Across All Sectors: 2001-02 to 2006-07

  

Year
Totals


2001-02
40,877


2002-03
29,992


2003-04
27,520


2004-05
19,013


2005-06
15,500


2006-07
8,100


 
141,002

Central Heating Programme

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many central heating programme contractors have been (a) approved and (b) appointed by Scottish Gas and where they are located, broken down by local authority area.

Des McNulty: I have asked Angiolina Foster, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. Her response is as follows:

  Scottish Gas has appointed 34 contractors and a further seven are currently in the registration process for inclusion on the programme. Information on the location of Scottish Gas contractors is not held centrally.

Enterprise

Mr Stewart Maxwell (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive when the Digital Media and Creative Industries Project Co-investment Fund closed and what the reason was for its closure.

Mr Stewart Maxwell (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much was budgeted for the Digital Media and Creative Industries Project Co-investment Fund in each financial year since its inception.

Mr Stewart Maxwell (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive in how many projects the Digital Media and Creative Industries Project Co-investment Fund invested in each financial year since its inception.

Mr Stewart Maxwell (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much was allocated to each project in which the Digital Media and Creative Industries Project Co-investment Fund invested.

Nicol Stephen: This initiative was established and funded by Scottish Enterprise. As such, this is an operational matter for Scottish Enterprise and I have asked its Chief Executive to respond to you directly.

Further Education

Dr Sylvia Jackson (Stirling) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what support it has provided to Forth Valley College and how many students have attended the college in each year since 1996-97.

Nicol Stephen: Responsibility for funding Scotland’s incorporated colleges lies with the Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council. I have asked the chair of the council to write to the member with the requested details of funding and student numbers.

Higher Education

Marlyn Glen (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the estimated average annual earnings have been of people with a university degree in each of the last three years.

Nicol Stephen: The preferred source for earnings estimates is the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE), which is carried out by the Office for National Statistics. However, information on qualifications are not collected in ASHE. Therefore the Annual Scottish Labour Force Survey and the Annual Population Survey are used to provide earnings by qualification.

  The following table contains the median gross full-time annual earnings of all people aged 16+ with a degree or higher for Scotland in 2003, 2004 and 2005.

  Table 1 Median Gross Full-Time Annual Earnings of People with a Degree or Higher Qualification, Scotland, 2003-05

  

 
Median Earnings


2003
£28,000


2004
£29,000


2005
£29,000

Housing

Dr Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether there is any legal barrier to a (a) housing association and (b) private housing provider providing accommodation only for persons assessed by a local authority as being homeless.

Rhona Brankin: Section 20 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 1987 as amended by the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 requires that registered social landlords give reasonable preference in the selection of their tenants to homeless persons and persons threatened with homelessness alongside those occupying houses which are overcrowded, below the tolerable standard or provide unsatisfactory housing conditions, and to large families.

  There is no legal barrier to private housing providers providing accommodation to homeless persons only.Section 5 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 gives a registered social landlord a duty to comply with a local authority’s request to provide accommodation to a person assessed as homeless unless it has good reason not to.

Income

Tommy Sheridan (Glasgow) (Sol): To ask the Scottish Executive how many individuals are considered to be low paid, broken down by local authority area.

Nicol Stephen: Low pay can be defined in various ways. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) defines the low pay group as those who work more than 15 hours per week and receive an hourly wage less than two-thirds the median wage in their country of residence. For the data in the following table low pay is defined as earning less than two thirds of the median hourly earnings.

  Table 1 Estimate of Number of Employees who are Low Paid by Local Authority Area, 2006

  

 
Level


Aberdeen City
25,000


Aberdeenshire
27,000


Angus
10,000


Argyll and Bute
7,000


Scottish Borders
13,000


Clackmannanshire
7,000


Dumfries and Galloway
15,000


Dundee City
16,000


East Ayrshire
11,000


East Dunbartonshire
8,000


East Lothian
8,000


East Renfrewshire
6,000


Edinburgh, City of
39,000


Falkirk
14,000


Fife
34,000


Glasgow City
54,000


Highland
25,000


Inverclyde
8,000


Midlothian
7,000


Moray
9,000


North Ayrshire
11,000


North Lanarkshire
30,000


Orkney Islands
2,000


Perth and Kinross
13,000


Renfrewshire
16,000


Shetland Islands
2,000


South Ayrshire
11,000


South Lanarkshire
24,000


Stirling
8,000


West Dunbartonshire
10,000


West Lothian
15,000


Western Isles
2,000



  Source: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, Office for National Statistics.Notes:1. The estimates are based on the hourly pay excluding overtime and shift premium payments.2. The estimates are based on a sample survey, and as such, are subject to sampling error.3. Estimates are rounded to the nearest thousand.

Justice

Mr John Swinney (North Tayside) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much expenditure it has incurred to date in (a) legal and (b) court costs in pursuing the case of The Scottish Ministers v  The Scottish Information Commissioner (William Alexander’s application).

Johann Lamont: The case of The Scottish Ministers v  The Scottish Information Commissioner (William Alexander’s application) was heard before the Court of Session with the case of The Scottish Ministers v The Scottish Information Commissioner (Mr Elstone’s and Mr Williams’ application).

  The expenditure invoiced to date covers both of these cases and totals £25,518.15.

Justice

Mr John Swinney (North Tayside) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much expenditure it expects to incur in (a) legal and (b) court costs in pursuing the case of The Scottish Ministers v  The Scottish Information Commissioner (William Alexander’s application).

Johann Lamont: The Opinion of the Court of Session has been received, and its terms and implications are being considered. Any further appeal would be to the House of Lords. At this stage the level of any expected expenditure would be speculative.

Ports

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the pilots on the River Forth can be transferred as part of any prospective sale or acquisition of Forth Ports plc and, if so, what steps the Executive can take in respect of this issue in the event of ownership of the ports by a foreign buyer.

Tavish Scott: I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-30875 on 18 January 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search .

Prison Service

Rob Gibson (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Scottish Prison Service’s (SPS) unpublished structural and organisational review informs succession planning in the SPS.

Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:

  The structural and organisational review has made a number of recommendations which are currently being considered by the SPS Board and its Trade Union partners.

Prison Service

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-30909 by Cathy Jamieson on 19 January 2007, what authority the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) has to put in place interim arrangements for visiting committees (VCs) for young offenders institutions (YOIs); where the power and authority for such action lies between the Executive and the SPS; whether the Executive or the SPS will publish the terms of the interim arrangements; when the interim arrangements were promulgated and who were advised of them, and on what basis and authority past appointees can remain in place.

Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

  Appointments to YOI VCs have now been made. A selection process was conducted where applicants who had responded to a national advertising campaign for YOI VC members were interviewed.

  Interim arrangements were implemented to allow existing YOI VC members to continue in their role until the Minister ratified new appointments, these were notified to YOI VC chairs. Additionally, other YOI VC members have also volunteered to assist and support the induction of new YOI VC members until the end of March 2007. SPS welcome this public spirited offer to help effect a seamless transition to the new YOI VCs.

Prison Service

Mr Andrew Arbuckle (Mid Scotland and Fife) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what the average weekly cost is of feeding prisoners.

Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

  The serving of meals to prisoners includes many overheads – staff, utilities, rates etc which are not easily calculated. However, the average spend on food items is £11.23 per prisoner per week.

Prison Service

Mike Pringle (Edinburgh South) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what categories of prisoner are eligible for transfer to open prison and at what point in a sentence prisoners are routinely transferred to an open prison.

Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

  Short-term prisoners may be transferred at anytime in their sentence. Long-term prisoners are subject to a minimum period in secure conditions, which varies according to their sentence. No prisoners are routinely transferred to open prisons; such transfer is dependant on an assessment of risk.

Rail Network

Maureen Macmillan (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what arrangements are in place to clean the railway tracks and station environments in Inverness and the north of Scotland and what plans there are for improving such arrangements.

Tavish Scott: Network Rail arrange the cleaning of railway tracks, including the track bed within stations, in accordance with their Annual Management Maintenance Plan and in agreement with Environmental Regulations.

  Through Transport Scotland’s Service Quality Inspection Regime, First ScotRail managed stations are audited for track litter within station areas. Information on any failure is passed to First ScotRail for appropriate action to be taken.

  Network Rail, in partnership with First ScotRail, are looking at ways to improve the method with which track cleaning is undertaken throughout Scotland.

Renewable Energy

Ms Maureen Watt (North East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many installers of micro-renewable energy technologies there are that are accredited, or provisionally accredited, by the Scottish Community and Householder Renewables Initiative to carry out work eligible for household renewable grants, broken down by region and accreditation status.

Nicol Stephen: The following table is based on information published on the Energy Saving Trust’s website at http://www.est.org.uk/schri . The table shows the 58 accredited installers based in Scotland, broken down by local authority area. In addition there are 89 installers outside Scotland that operate in Scotland. Of these, 37 have full accreditation and 52 have provisional accreditation.

  

Local Authority
Accreditation Status


Full
Provisional


Aberdeen City
0
0


Aberdeenshire
3
3


Angus
1
0


Argyll and Bute
0
0


City of Edinburgh
1
1


City of Glasgow
1
2


Dumfries and Galloway
1
0


Clackmannanshire
0
0


Dundee
0
2


East Ayrshire 
2
0


East Dunbartonshire
0
0


East Lothian 
0
1


East Renfrewshire
0
1


Falkirk
0
0


Fife
2
0


Highland
4
6


Inverclyde
0
0


Midlothian
0
1


Moray
1
1


North Ayrshire
0
0


North Lanarkshire
0
1


Orkney
2
0


Perth and Kinross
2
4


Renfrewshire
0
0


Scottish Borders
2
0


Shetland
1
1


South Ayrshire
1
1


South Lanarkshire
0
0


Stirling
2
1


W Dunbartonshire
0
0


Western Isles
0
1


West Lothian 
3
2


Total
29
29

Renewable Energy

Richard Lochhead (Moray) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of (a) domestic dwellings, (b) public buildings and (c) private sector buildings have micro-renewable technology installed, broken down by type of renewable technology.

Nicol Stephen: The information requested is not held centrally.

  Under the Executive’s Scottish Community and Householder Renewables Initiative (SCHRI) grants for 1,473 householder projects and 225 community projects have been approved for the installation of microrenewable technologies. The following tables show this information, broken down by technology.

  Householder Grants Approved Under SCHRI by Technology to 4 January 2007

  

Technology
Number of Grants Approved


Solar Water Heating 
710


Wind Turbine 
82


Ground Source Heat Pump
511


Hydro 
5


Biomass
88


Solar Water Heating/Wind 
2


Lerwick District Heating 
63


Air Source Heat Pump 
10


Solar Space Heating
2



  Community Grants Approved Under SCHRI by Technology to 22 January 2007

  

Technology
Number of Grants Approved


Solar water
45


Solar air
5


Solar air / solar water
5


Wind
62


Hydro
6


Biomass
36


Ground Source Heat Pump
49


Solar hot water / wind
5


Hydro / GSHP
1


Solar hot water / GSHP
4


Multiple 
5


Hydrogen
1


GSHP/Wind
1

Scottish Executive Staff

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many qualified lawyers it has employed in each year since 1997.

Mr Tom McCabe: The number of qualified lawyers employed by the Scottish Executive is shown in the following tables. Numbers for 1997 and 1998 are not available as the Scottish Executive did not exist until 1999.

  Since 1999 all solicitors and advocates in the Government Legal Service for Scotland (GLSS) have been employed by the Scottish Executive. The following table shows that there is currently 102 staff employed in the Office of the Solicitor to the Scottish Executive (OSSE). The others are employed by the Scottish Executive (SE) but are seconded or on loan to other departments and agencies in Scotland, Whitehall and Europe. These staff are not paid by the SE and do not give advice to Scottish ministers.

  Qualified Lawyers employed in the Scottish Executive from 1999 to 2006

  Staff employed who give advice to the SE

  

Category Employed
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006


Office of the Solicitor to the Scottish Executive (OSSE)
46
73
79
82
88
98
103
102


The office of Office of Scottish Parliamentary Counsel (OSPC)
8
9
9
11
13
13
16
14


Lord Advocates Office
3
6
6
6
4
2
2
3


Totals
57
89
94
99
105
114
121
119



  Staff Employed Who Do Not Give Advice to the Scottish Executive

  

Category Employed
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006


Scottish law Commission
3
7
7
7
6
4
4
4


Scottish Parliament
2
4
4
3
3
6
11
13


Scottish Lands Court Tribunal
1
2
2
2
2
2
2
2


Office of the Solicitor to Advocate General (OSAG)
3
8
17
19
22
25
24
24


Secondments
2
2
2
5
5 (1 in Europe)
9 (3 in Europe)
11 (4 in Europe)
10 (4 in Europe)


Civil Justice
1
3
3
3
6
5
6
6


Lord Presidents Private Office
-
-
1
1
2
2
2
3


Crofters Commission
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1


Communities Scotland
-
-
-
-
1
1
1
-


Staff on Career Break
-
-
1
1
1
1
3
4


Transport Scotland
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
1


Totals
13
27
38
42
49
56
65
68

Scottish Information Commissioner

Margo MacDonald (Lothians) (Ind): To ask the Scottish Executive whether, in light of the recent judgement in the case of The Scottish Ministers v The Scottish Information Commissioner (William Alexander’s Application) and The Scottish Ministers v The Scottish Information Commissioner (David Elstone and Martin Williams’s Applications), regarding the disclosure of ministerial and inter-departmental papers relating to sections 25 to 29 of the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Scotland) Act 1990, whether it will now publish those papers without delay and what the reasons are for its position on the matter.

Johann Lamont: The Opinion of the Court of Session has been received and its terms and implications are being considered. Any further appeal would be to the House of Lords. At this stage it would be inappropriate to make any further comment.

Sexual Offences

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many of those convicted of sexual offences have absconded while (a) on parole, (b) on early release and (c) serving a suspended sentence in each of the last seven years, broken down by police force area.

Cathy Jamieson: The number of offenders convicted of sexual offences who have been released on licence, and have subsequently had their licence revoked but have not yet been returned to custody over the last seven years are:

  

Year
Number
Constabulary


2000
0
 


2001
0
 


2002
1
Tayside 


2003
1
Tayside 


2004
2
StrathclydeNorthern 


2005
1
Strathclyde 


2006
0
 


2007 (to date)
1
Lothian and Borders



  In Scotland offenders are released subject to the provisions of the Prisoners and Criminal Proceedings (Scotland) Act 1993. Offenders sentenced to four years or more are eligible to be released on licence at the direction of the Parole Board after serving one half of the sentence and will be released on licence at the two thirds stage of sentence. They are subject to supervision in the community by the relevant local authority. Should an offender breach the conditions of their licence in the community, they are liable to have their licence revoked and be returned to custody. Sex offenders sentenced to between six months and up to four years are automatically released on licence at the halfway point of their sentence.

  Scottish courts do not have powers to suspend sentences.

  The Custodial Sentences and Weapons (Scotland) Bill currently before Parliament makes provision for all offenders sentenced to 15 days or more to be subject to licence conditions for a minimum of 25% of their sentence.

Transport

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive which transport projects in Central Scotland parliamentary region have received support from the Executive in each year since 1999, broken down by parliamentary constituency.

Tavish Scott: The Executive does not hold information on transport projects based on parliamentary regions or constituencies. The range and scale of transport projects in Scotland varies greatly, and may impact over a number of constituency areas. In general projects are announced either through a Scottish Executive or Transport Scotland news release on their websites, as a ministerial announcement or through the annual reports to Parliament of grants paid under section 70 of the Transport (Scotland) Act 2001 (copies of the report are available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre, Bib. numbers 22114, 28193, 33166, 36946 and 39974).

Voluntary Sector

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many people (a) directly benefited from projects run by the voluntary sector with European Structural Funds (ESF) administered by ministers in each year since 2000 and (b) are expected to benefit from such projects in each year from 2007 to 2010.

Allan Wilson: Information is not held centrally on the number of people who benefited from projects run by organisations in specific sectors.

  The last published figures in the Annual Implementation Reports for the three ESF Programmes show that the total number of beneficiaries assisted by each of the European Social Fund Programmes up to December 2005 are as follows:

  Objective 1 Programme: 28,678

  Objective 2 Programme: 9,107

  Objective 3 Programme: 250,620.

  In total 288,405 beneficiaries were assisted from 2000-05. The total is reported on as a cumulative number as many of projects run for more than one year.

  It is not possible to estimate fully the number of beneficiaries who will benefit from projects for the 2007-13 period, as the programme priorities and allocations will not be finalised until negotiations with the Commission have completed.